Method of and apparatus for treating mohair, wool, and the like



June 2%, 1932, w. CHESHIRE 198659234 METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FORTREATING MOHAIR, WOOL, AND THE LIKE Filed Feb. 5, 1951 5 Sheets-Sheet 1June 28, 1932. c sH 1,865,234

METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR TREATING MOHAIR, WOOL, AND THE LIKE FiledFeb. 5, 1931 3 SheetsSheet 2 June 28, 19332. w. CHESHIRE METHOD OF ANDAPPARATUS FOR TREATING MOHAIR, WOOL, AND THE LIKE Filed Feb. 5, 1951 5Sheets-Sheet fiz J 'ncnnnnnunnnnnunr ,HYIHHIHIIIIIIII'IIIIIIIIII led .le2&, 1932 WILL! CHESEIRE QF RR-ISTQL, RHODE ISLAND, ASSIGHOR Hi0 GOLLINS& I

' CORFQRATIGN, A. CORPORATEON OF DELAWE nmrnfon or errant rue: non,rnnsrnve Mortars, WQGL, ann rm '1 Application filed February 5, rear.Serial no. erases.

My invention relates to improvements in the method of and apparatus fortreating mohair, Wool, cotton and like material, specifically in themethod oil and apparatus for opening, dusting, sorting, Weighing and/orstoring said mohair or lilre material.

lt has been the practice in the art in sorting mohair to have a skilledmohair sorter do a lot of manual labor which can he read- ;ro ily doneby unskilled labor in the actual sort ing of the mohair. The skilledmohair sorter takes the original material Whether it he di rectly fromthe hale or from a suitable receptacle therefor andplaces it in front ofhim on a single large hoard tahle. Hethen individually takes the mohairand selectively sorts out the qualities into piles. The skilled laborerthen must transfer the piles into proper receptacles and move them tothe desired place for further treating of the select ed grades ofmohair. "l have realized therefore that it is possible to substitute. alarge amount of the manual lahor done by these skilled mohair sorters hyunslnilled labor at a relatively less price and also to appreciablylessen the amount of lahor necessary in the handling and transmission ofthe mohair, To this end I provide a continuously moving perforated,preferably woven Wire conveyor having a surface thereof moving in asuhstantially horizontal plane. I provide means such as modified pickermeans to open up and feed a substantially even preferably relativelythin layer of material on said continuouss ly advancing conveyorsurface. l'n order-to remove dust and other minor impurit es which comewith the mohair therefrom, 1 provide means to continuously draw agaseous stream through said continuously moving layer of material andsurface to remove dust and other small impurities therefrom.

Whereas in the prior art each individual mohair sorter has had tocontinuously pick over the mohair in front or" him Wl'llCl is in theform of a pile to select the difierent qualities therefrom, l have.found that by spreading out the mohair in a relatively even layer in acontinuously moving stream the sorting may be more readily accomplished.In addition to this l have divided the stream of mohair intoso-calledzones, and provided stands for sorter-s at spaced points along saidconveyor for a sorter to stand at the most convenient height for sortinadjacent said moving stream, and l provi e recep'tacles such as hins orremovable baskets spaced at correspondingly predetermined distancesalong said conveyor, each adapted to receive a diilerent class of gradedqualities from said main stream. I thus divide the efficient in thesorting out of that one quality from thesubstantially small layer oforiginal material, than said sorter would he in sorting out a largeplurality of different qualities and continuously picking over the mohair in the pile in "front of him. I thus in a manner substantiallyrevolutionize the present-day sorting of mohair byfirst spreading ill)the mohair out on a continuously moving a conveyor in a thin layer sothat all types of quahties may he readily seen by the Sorters Withoutplching over piles in front of them and secondlyl educate individualSorters so as to look for single classes or grades and thereby enableeach individual sorter to hecome more proficient in the sorting of hisspecific quality.

it is apparentthat in place oftreating mohair, other fibres, such asWool, cotton, etc., Waste, rags, or any other suitahle; type of similarproducts may he similarly treated.

'While the usual bale of mohair contains a certain amount of grades mostof the mohair will come through of a single grade and thus in oneembodiment of my improved apparatus and process, there emerges from theend of the conveyor a single grade of sorted mohair or like material,and on each side of the conveyor are receptacles, each containing anexpertly sorted sin le class or grade which may he added to other groupsto make up a sufficiently large standard grade for its individual latertreatment.

Further objects of my invention relate to the substantially automaticmoving of the mohair or other material while it is being dusted, opened,sorted and weighed. I thus may drop the mohair from one floor into thepicker, have it automatically moved from the picker on to the conveyor,have it automatically moved from the conveyor on' to a Weighing machineand having it automatically moved from the weighing machine into storagebins on a lower floor.

A further object of my invention is to provide means to automaticallyweigh the sorted stream of material.

A further object of my invention is to pro vide an apparatus in whichthe speed or" the conveyor may be readily regulated for differentclasses, kinds, grades, or material so as to run the conveyor at themost efiicient s eed for the most efficient selective sorting t ereof.

These and such other objects of my invention as may hereinafter appearwill be best understood from a description of the accompanying drawingswhich illustrate an embodiment thereof.

In the drawings, Fig. 1 and Fig.1 broken between Figs. 1 and 1 for lackof space in the sheet represent a side elevation, partly shown insection of an embodiment of my invention mounted for most efficientautomatic handling of the material on three different floors of afactory.

Figs. 2 and 2 are corresponding diagrammatic plan views thereof,- theindividual floors having been removed.

Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view looking towards the feeding end ofthe conveyor,

taken along the line 33 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view of the feeding end of theconveyor taken along the broken line 4-4.- of Fig. 2.

In the drawings, wherein like characters of reference indicate likeparts throughout,

10 generally indicates a continuously moving surface constructed inaccordance with my invention.

In the preferred embodiment shown, said .moving surface 10 preferablyincludes the upper surface of a continuously moving conveyor 12preferably perforated as at 14, preferably by being made of spaced wovenwire moving in a substantially horizontal plane. In the embodimentshown, the conveyor 12 comprises a continuous moving conveyor revolvingaround the drums 16 and 18. As.

shown in Fig. 2 the drum 18 is suitably driven through the medium of thegearing 20 which is suitably driven by means of the stepup pulley 22 sothat the speed of the conveyor may be adjustably varied.

I provide means to open up and feed a substantially even layer ofmaterial on said conconvenience of automatic handling to dispense withthe amount of unskilled labor formerly thought necessary my invention ispreferably constructed on three floors. The upper floor A is providedwith a chute 24 through which the original unbaled material is led intothe picker means 26. Said picker means includes a usual horizontalconveyor 28, a continously revolving oblique conveyor 30 provided eitherwith card clothing or suitable material to pick up even layers of mohairor other material thereon and a suitable dofiing comb 34 to keep thematerial caught on the card clothing or other projections in a thin evenlayer across the upwardly moving material advancing surface 36 of saidconveyor 30. The material from said conveyor may then be dropped onanother oblique delivery belt 38 and dropped from there in asubstantially even layer 40 on the continuously moving conveyor 10. Itis thus apparent that the mohair or other material will be fed in a'substantially even layer 40 on the upper surface 10 of the continuouslymoving conveyor 12.

I provide means to continuously draw a gaseous stream. preferablydownward through the continuously moving layer 40 of material andsurface 10 to remove dust, or other small impurities therefrom. Whileany suitable type of means may be provided for this urpose, I preferablyprovide the suction an 42 suitably connected by the pipe 44 which isindividually connected at spaced intervals by means of the pipes 46 tothe troughs 48 which extend at spaced intervals underneath the uppersurface of the conveyor 12 so that each end thereof will besubstantially adjacent to provide a substantially continuous suctionalong the entire surface of the material being treated. The pipe 44 maybe also connected by means of the pipe 50 to the picker apparatus toremove floating dust particles therefrom in addition. A suitable wastedischarge pipe 52 leads from the suction fan to discharge the waste inany suitable place.

The entire conveyor is thus located on the floor B and I provide meansto continuously weigh the graded stream of material 40 after it has beendischarged from the conveyor 10. The storage bins 54 for said gradedstream of material are preferably placed on a lower floor C and meansare provided to continuously lead said graded stream of material to saidstorage bins. The weighing apparatus 56 is preferably locatedintermediate the said floors B and C in said factory, extending throughthe floor B. Automatic weighing machines are well known in the art and Imay insert one of any standard ty e. Said machinecomprises a hopper 58 aapted when it has been filled to the desired amount to automaticallyopen up and discharge into the exhaust pipe 60 below it. The hopper 58will thus discharge when the redetermined amount of material has beenput therein and will immediatelyclose up, thereby permitting acontinuous automatic weighing of the stream oi sorted material. lhe pipe60 leads to the respective storage bins 5d and for ease of moving thematerial maybe provided with a pressure fan 62. ll employ the wordstorage bin, however, to include any type of permanent or movablestorage receptacle. In order to remove the material fromthedischarge endof the conveyor 12 I provide a suitable delivery belt or which as shownis i. arranged at an oblique angle to lead the continuous stream ofsorted and graded material to from the discharge end or the conveyor anddrop it into the hopper 5% of weighing machine 56.

s As stated, a main feature ol my invention consists of selectivelyseparating the various classes or grades from the main, thin layer orstream of mohair or other material at spaced pointsalong said stream orconveyor,

whereby'said sorted stream may consist entirely of graded material andsaid classified qualities may form standard grades of material ofdifierent classes from that of the main stream. For this purpose Iprovide receptacles arranged at predetermined distances along one sideof said conveyor,

each adapted to receive a different class or quality from said mainstream. ll'thus in the embodiment shown divide the space along theconveyor in live zones, namely, a, b, 0, cl, and e and I place thereceptacles 6%, ill, 64, 6d and 6 respectively along and opposite eachrespective zone adjacent one side of the conveyor l providestands 6666", 66, 66 and 66 spaced along the opposite side of said conveyor atcorresponding predetermined distances corresponding to the receptacles64 6d", ti l, 64 and 649'. In the preferred embodiment said standscomprise sections ofthe iioor B and are spaced below the upper surfaceof the conveyor a suitable height for the eficient working oil thesorters working over the zones at, I"), o, and e of the conveyor, in thepreferred embodiment shown for most etficient sorting beingsubstantially halt the height oil a man. It is thus obvious a sorterwill provided for each zone,

standing respectively on the stands 66*, 66, bid, 66 and 66 and eachsorter will sort a single class or grade out from the main streamand'throw them into the receptacles 6d, 64", dd, 6d and 64! respectivelyon the opposite side of the conveyor. It is thus obvious that byproviding a sorter to sort out a single type or grade from the mainstream that he will i become more proficient in the individual job oflooking for single types or grades in a substantially thin main streamthan was heretoiore possible where Sorters were sorting all types orgrades from a pile of mohair.

' It is obvious that the conveyor 12 will be of such a width, that thesorter can readily reach for any type or quality on the furtherrnostside of the conveyor from him and that each individual zone or sectionwill be of a width that a man or sorter standing in the center of eachstand 66* may readily reach all material passing by him with his rightor left hand. It is thus obvious that l have provided a novel apparatusfor, and method of obtaining standard grades oi mohair or like materialand in which the entire time ofthe expert mohair or other sorters isemployed in actual sorting, in which they are required to do practicallyno unskilled lavention is particularly adapted for sorting,

dusting, opening up and weighing fibers, it is obvious that it may bereadily employed for use in sorting rags, waste and similar products. Itis understood that my invention is not limited to the specificembodiment shown or method described and that various deviatibns may bemade therefrom Without departing from the spirit and scope of theappended claims.

What I claim is: v w

1. ln a machine for obtaining standard grades oii'mohair or likematerial, in combination, a continuously moving wovedwire conveyor havinthe upper surface thereof moving in a suostantially horizontal plane,

means to open up and feed a substantially 3.

graded qualities from said main stream,

stands spaced along the opposite side of said conveyor at correspondingpredetermined dlstances spaced: below said surface, means tocontinuously weigh the graded stream of material, storage bins for saidgraded material and means to continuously lead said graded stream ofmaterial to said storage bins.

2. In a machine for obtaining standard grades of mohair or likematerial, in combination, a continuously moving perforatesurface, meansto feed a substantially even relatively thin layer of material on saidcontinuously advancing surface to form a continuously advancing mainstream of material, means to continuously draw a gaseous stream throughsaid continuously moving layer of material and surface to remove dustand other small impurities therefrom, receptacles placed at predetermined distances along said conveyor, each adapted to receivedifferent graded qualities from said main stream and stands placed alongthe opposite side of said surface at corresponding predetermineddistances spaced below said surface and means to con-' tinuously weighthe graded stream of material. c

3. In a machine for obtaining standar grades of mohair or likematerial,,in combination, a continuously moving perforate surface, meansto feed a substantially even relatively thin layer of material on saidcontinuously advancing surface to form a con-- tinuously advancing mainstream of material, receptacles spaced at predetermined distances alongsaid conveyor each adapted to receive different graded qualities fromsaid main stream and stands spaced along the opposite side of saidsurface at corresponding predetermined distances spaced below saidsurface, storage bins for said graded material and means to continuouslylead the said'graded stream of material to said storage bins.

4. In a machine for obtaining standard grades of mohair or likematerial, in combination, a continuously moving perforate surface, meansto open up and feed a sub stantially even relatively thin layer ofmaterial on said continuously advancing surface to form a continuouslyadvancing main stream of material, receptacles spaced at predetermineddistances along said conveyor each adapted to receive different gradedqualities from said main stream and stands spaced along the oppositeside of said surface at corresponding predetermined distances spacedbelow said surface and means to continuous. ly weigh said graded streamof material.

5. In a machine for obtaining standard grades of mohair or likematerial, in combi nation, a continuously moving perforate surface,means to open up and feed a substantially even relatively thin layer ofmaterial on said continuously advancing surface to form a continuouslyadvancing main stream of material, means to continuously draw a gaseousstream through said continuously face, storage bins for said gradedmaterial and means to continuously lead said graded stream of materialto said storage bins.

6'. In a machine for obtainlng standard grades of mohair or likematerial, in combination, a continuously moving woven wire conveyorhaving the upper surface thereof moving in a substantially horizontalplane, means to open up and feed a substantially even relatively thinlayer of material on said continuously advancing upper surface to form acontinuously advancing main stream of material, means to continuouslydraw a gaseous stream downwards through said continuously moving layerof material and surface to remove dust and other small impuritiestherefrom, receptacles spaced at predetermi'ned distances along saidconveyor each adapted to receive a difierent class of graded qualitiesfrom said main stream, stands spaced along the opposite side of saidconveyor at corresponding predetermined distances spaced below saidsurface and means to continuously weigh the graded stream of material. y

7 In a machine for obtaining standard grades of mohair or like material,in combination, a continuously moving woven wire conveyor having theupper surface thereof moving in a substantially horizontalplane, meansto open up and feed a, substantially even relatively thin layer ofmaterial on said continuously advancing upper surface to form acontinuously advancing main stream of material, means to continuouslydraw a gaseous stream downwards through said continuously moving layerof material and surface to remove dust and other small impuritiestherefrom, receptacles spaced at predetermined distances along saidconveyor each adapted to receive different graded qualities from saidmain stream, stands placed along the opposite side of said conveyor atcorresponding predetermined distances spaced be low said surface,storage bins for said graded material and means to continuously leadsaid graded stream of material to said storage bins.

8. In a machine for obtaining standard grades of mohair or likematerial, in combi-' nation, a continuously moving woven wire conveyorhaving the upper surface thereof moving in a substantially horizontalplane, picker means to open up and feed a substantially even relativelythin layer of material on said continuously advancing uppersurface toform a continuously advancing main stream of material, means tocontinuously draw a gaseous stream downwards through said continuouslymoving layer of material and surface to remove'dust and other smallimpurities therefrom, receptacles spaced at predetermined distancesalong said conveyor each adapted to receive a different class ofgradedaqualities from said main. stream,

' stands spaced along the opposite side of said conveyor atcorresponding predetermined distances spaced below said surface, meansto continuously weigh the graded stream of material, storage bins forsaid graded ma terial and means to continuously lead said.

lgraded stream of material to said, storage lIlS.

9. In a machine for obtaining standard grades of mohair or likematerial, in combination, a continuously moving woven wire conveyorhaving the upper surface thereof movthrough said stream of movingmaterial to In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

WHJLIAM CHESHIRE.

. ing in a substantially horizontal plane, means 1 to open up and feeda. substantially even relatlvely thin layer of material on saidcontlnuously advancing upper surface to form a continuously advancingmain stream of material', means to continuously draw a gaseous streamdownwards through sald cont1nuously moving layer of material and surfaceto remove dust and other small impurities therefrom, receptacles spacedat predetermined distances along said conveyor each adapted to receive adifferent class of graded qualities from said main stream, stands spacedalong the opposite side of said conveyor at corre-' I spondingpredetermined distances spaced below said surface, means to continuouslyweigh the graded stream of material, storage bins for said gradedmaterial, means to continuously lead said graded stream of material tosaid storage bins and means for adj ustably varying the speed of theconveyor.

10. A method of sorting mohair or like material which comprisesspreading a sub stantiallycontmuous layer of said material on acontinuously moving perforate conveyor, continuously'movmg sald conveyorand thin layer of said materlal to form a continuous moving thin streamof saidmaterial, passing 1 a continuous supply of gaseous materialthrough said stream of moving material to remove dust and smallimpurities therefrom and selectively separating single graded.

classes of impurities from said moving stream at spaced fixed pointsrelative to said movlng stream, whereby said sorted stream may consistof graded material and said classified I impurities may form separatedstandard grades Y of material of different classes from i that of thesaid stream.

11. A method of sorting mohair or like 7 material which-comprisesspreading a layer of said material on a moving perforate conveyor,moving said conveyor and layer of said material to form a moving streamof said material, passing a supply of gaseous material

